In Der Zukunftsweg einer deutschen Aussenpolitik (1927; “The Future Direction of a German Foreign Policy”), Rosenberg urged the conquest of Poland and Russia. Der Mythus des 20. Jahrhunderts (1934; “The Myth of the 20th Century”) was a tedious exposition of German racial purity. According to Rosenberg, the Germans descended from a Nordic race that derived its character from its environment: a pure, cold, semi-Arctic continent, now disappeared. The Germans, as representatives of this race, were entitled to dominate Europe. Their enemies were “Russian Tartars” and “Semites.” The latter included Jews, the Latin peoples, and Christianity, particularly the Catholic Church. Rosenberg’s anti-Semitism and advocacy of “Nordic” expansionism gave a certain order and direction to Hitler’s own violent prejudices.

At the beginning of World War II, Rosenberg brought Vidkun Quisling, the Norwegian Fascist, into contact with Hitler to discuss a possible Nazi coup d’etat in Norway. After the fall of France, Rosenberg was in charge of transporting captured works of art to Germany. From July 1941 he was a largely powerless Reichsminister for the occupied eastern territories. At the Nürnberg trials Rosenberg was adjudged a war criminal and was hanged. His writings and speeches were published under the title of Blut und Ehre (1934–41; “Blood and Honour”).